Pro-Wagner accounts keep showing up on Facebook and Instagram after Meta’s ban on the mercenary group, report shows

CNN — A network of dozens of accounts on Facebook and Instagram have been promoting Russia’s Wagner mercenary group to hundreds of thousands of followers, months after Meta vowed to remove content glorifying the group, according to a new report by disinformation experts. Even if the accounts are not directly affiliated with the Wagner group, ISD said, the content they created still likely violates Meta’s terms. The apparent persistence of pro-Wagner content on Meta’s platforms underscores how the private military group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin — or perhaps the organization’s admirers — has been able to skirt a Meta policy designed to combat so-called “dangerous organizations.” Meta’s algorithms also appeared to recommend pro-Wagner pages and groups to ISD researchers as they were conducting the study, the report said, raising questions about the company’s ability to keep users from discovering material that glorifies the group. In a statement Thursday, Meta said it is evaluating the accounts highlighted in the report and that the Wagner group “is not permitted to have a presence on our platforms and we regularly remove assets when we identify those with clear ties to the organization.” In May, after reports that Wagner had used social media platforms to boost its recruitment efforts, Meta said it had banned Wagner under its dangerous organizations policy. At the time, Meta said it would also remove content that praises or supports Wagner “when we become aware of it, including posts that aim to recruit for them.” Whether or not Wagner was behind the accounts uncovered by ISD, Prigozhin has long been connected to information operations that exploit social media, according to researchers and US officials.